Entertainment

If you're anxiously awaiting the return of Game of Thrones, it's time to get ready for a longer wait than the one you're accustomed to. HBO confirmed today that the series will indeed be returning in summer 2017, marking the first time in the series that a season will begin outside of spring. Of course, we knew this was coming, but this is the first time HBO has given us a time frame for the premiere of season 7.

If you grew up in the '70s or '80s, you likely remember mixtapes. If you didn't, a mixtape is like the physical form of a playlist; a collection of songs from different artists, usually grouped by a theme or mood, recorded on a single audio tape that could be shared between friends and romantic interests. Well, Netflix has just updated that ancient practice with a new feature called "Flixtapes" — a shareable playlist of movies and TV shows for, well, Netflix.

Released at Star Wars Celebration Europe was a bit of footage from behind-the-scenes of the next big film: Rogue One. This story takes place immediately before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, and follows the adventures (and wartime battle action) of Jyn Erso, as well as a diverse cast of other humans and aliens. This clip shows some behind-the-scenes action as we saw last year for Star Wars The Force Awakens, with a clip also revealed during Celebration - in that case the USA version.

ABC has relaunched a streaming service that takes a page from Crackle’s book — it offers the network’s older shows for free, as well as a handful of original series. The service is ad-supported rather than requiring a pay TV subscription or monthly payments, which is the case with FOX's new livestreaming service and the vast majority of VOD streaming options like Hulu. The content will be offered under "ABCd."

The world has already been subject to several animated Pokemon movies in the past, but now, thanks to the monumental success of Pokemon Go, Hollywood is clamoring to put together a new, live-action adaptation of everyone's favorite monster-catching game series. As the first game in the franchise for smartphones, Pokemon-"it prints money!"-Go has generated a huge amount of buzz over the last week, and it's clear that movie studios want to cash-in on the wave of popularity.

Back in March, Apple's Eddy Cue revealed that the company was getting involved in original TV content by developing a non-scripted series about app developers and the app economy. Production is being split between Apple and television company Propagate, and the show, titled Planet of the Apps, has now started an open casting call. The announcement, posted on the show's official website, says they are looking for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS developers.

FOX has launched livestreaming of its primetime content, but only for pay TV customers. This is the first time FOX has offered primetime livestreaming; it is launching the new option as a beta, which is available through the FOX website and through FOX NOW. The livestreaming option is offered to all the pay TV customers in 210 TV markets across the U.S. In addition to seven-days-a-week primetime livestreaming, FOX is also livestreaming late night content on Saturdays.

Anonymous Content and Paramount Television has optioned the television series rights for Battlefield, DICE announced in a statement today. Battlefield, of course, is the long-running video game series from EA studio DICE; it debuted back in 2002 and has held a steady and growing fan base since. Now, thanks to this deal, we may be seeing the video game reborn as a television series; Ashley Zalta and Michael Sugar are both on board as executive producers.

Tomb Raider was once one of the biggest series in gaming, and that lead to two big Hollywood movies — 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and 2003's The Cradle of Life, both staring Angelina Jolie. But the series began to lose its luster in the years that followed, and only recently has made a comeback with a critically-acclaimed reboot and its direct sequel. Now the movie version of Tomb Raider is looking to do the same, with a film reboot now scheduled for release in March 2018.

While there are plenty of streaming video services for people who want to see movies and TV shows, there isn't as much selection for dedicated sports fans. That could be changing in the near future, as sports TV network ESPN is reportedly considering a streaming package that wouldn't require a cable or satellite subscription. This comes in a new report from The Information, which adds that the package would be aimed at cord cutters.

The Walking Dead has added four new series regulars to its cast for season seven, and they're all faces we've seen before. According to a new report, AMC has tapped Xander Berkeley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Tom Payne, and Austin Amelio as season 7 regulars, and at least two of them aren't terribly surprising. The seventh season for the original Walking Dead series will be premiering this upcoming October.

Amazon has scored an exclusive movie deal with Warner Bros that brings a slew of movies, including some well regarded ones, to the Prime Video platform. The deal makes 33 movies exclusive to Amazon Prime Video (as far as streaming goes, that is), the roster of which includes all of the Lethal Weapon and Matrix movies, Ocean’s Eleven, three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, and more.